Mavs' Thinel dodges suspension

Sebastien Thinel will be in the lineup at 7:05 tonight when his Missouri Mavericks play host to Allen in the fourth game of the best-of-seven Central Hockey League semifinal series against the top-seeded Allen Americans.

Sebastien Thinel will be in the lineup at 7:05 tonight when his Missouri Mavericks play host to Allen in the fourth game of the best-of-seven Central Hockey League semifinal series against the top-seeded Allen Americans.

The Mavericks captain, who is second in postseason scoring with 12 points, was given a five-minute major and 10-minute match penalty for intent to injure with 3:53 left in overtime of the Americans 3-2 victory Wednesday night at the Independence Events Center.

The penalty gave the Americans their second 5-on-3 opportunity in overtime and Trevor Hendrikx scored the game-winning goal at 18:01 to give Allen a 2-1 series lead.

The 10-minute match penalty was reviewed by the league and could have resulted in a suspension.

"I just received word from our director of hockey operations, Jim Wiley, that Mr. Thinel has been fined an undisclosed amount of money and will not be suspended," CHL director of communication Bob Hoffman wrote in an email sent to The Examiner late Thursday afternoon.

Now, Thinel can focus on the game, rather than a possible suspension.

"I got a text from (Mavericks coach Scott Hillman) saying I wasn't going to be suspended, which is good news," Thinel said Thursday evening. "Now I can just go out and play and not worry about a suspension. I didn't think I would get suspended, but you never know."

With the Mavericks penalty-kill unit on the ice, a scramble in front of the Allen net resulted in bodies flying. Thinel and Darryl Bootland got tangled up and went down in front of the net.

"Bootland has his hand on my face, jamming it into the ice, and I know Bootland, I've known him a long time," Thinel said. "I reached up and grabbed his beard. I was trying to get up off the ice. I guess the official saw some of his beard on the ice and felt like that was intent to injure.

"I was just trying to get him off me and his beard was there."

The Mavericks had a 2-1 lead late in the third period when Trevor Ludwig beat goaltender Mike Clemente at 17:40 to send the game into overtime.

The Mavericks now face a must-win situation tonight because a 3-1 deficit with only one more home game would be difficult to overcome against the regular-season points champion.

"We have to turn what happened last night into a positive," defenseman Dave Pszenyczny said Thursday morning. "We have to use what happened in overtime as motivation Friday. We can't let it sink our ship we have to use it as wind in our sails.

"I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm sure none of the boys did. We have to come out with a positive approach Friday and get this series tied at 2-all."

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Rookie goaltender Mathieu Corbeil, who watched the action from the bench, said he had heard the playoffs were different than regular-season games.

"It's the playoffs," said Corbeil, who was 1-1 in the two opening games at Allen, Texas. "The tension is up. The intensity is up. Everyone is on edge. No one wants to lose, because if you lose, you go home."

Veteran forward Ryan Jardine said his team must take a level-headed approach to tonight's game.

"It's another game," Jardine said. "We have to approach it as another game. We can't get too high or too low. But we know we need to win, and we'll do everything possible to get that done."

Tickets in all price ranges remain for tonight's and Saturday's 7:05 p.m. games.